I always have some adjustment period at the start of a new year where I keep writing the old date when I sign things. Not this year, my brain instantly went to 2021. Smooth transition. I guess I was fully ready to part ways with 2020.
Truth be told, I do like all the time at home with my wife and kids. Everybody is home way more and my kids finally learned how to play Euchre!
I keep waiting for someone to mention that the fiscal budgets for 2021 have all been trashed because of lost revenue last year, but so far, no word.
I will just politely keep stacking chips and waiting for universal health care so I can blow this pop stand and retire early.
Note on contents;
I made a major change to Net Worth in that I have finally removed Boat and Cars from my assets category. There is always debate over which items should be considered as assets. Truth is, my boat ain’t worth much and cars are something we need and therefore not something we might sell for the cash. Plus they are not as new as they once were.
Someday I would like to phase out one of our two residences, because we need to live somewhere and that house should not be included in a net worth. I want my Net Worth to be fairly liquid and not include things that need to be kept/used. Like cars and a house.
Kicking off 2021 Net Worth equals total Assets minus total Liabilities.
Total Assets: $2,833,133 + $ 23,372 from last month.
Accounts receivable, This is a floundering business deal from 2014
Real Estate 2nd home/vacation rental & Rental Property #1
Retirement accounts; 2 people, 4 accounts total
Brokerage account; Dividend Portfolio
College Funds; Prepaid tuition and 529 accounts or 2 kids
Bonds; ‘I bonds’ bought through Treasury Direct
Cash & Metals; 4 accounts and a security deposit box
Health Savings Account, Started in 2015
Total Liabilities; $453,363 down – $1,135 from March.
Mortgage on House; Bought in 2005 Interest 3.75%
Mortgage 2nd Home; Bought in 2012 Interest 3.5%
Mortgage on Rental Property; Bought in 2020 Interest at 4.75% (This is the cause of the bump UP in Debt)
Student Loan Paid off!
HELOC; Current APR 3.49%
Kicking off 2021 NET WORTH; $2,379,770
Tracking your own net worth is perhaps the second most important thing you can do to improve your financial picture. Budgeting your expenses to see where the money goes is probably still number one.
Budgeting is like paying attention to ball game while tracking net worth is like paying attention to the baseball season.
Months can goes up or down, you need a longer picture to evaluate your progress. You are either bringing in more money than you’re spending or you are losing money each month. Tracking Net Worth is easy, useful, and addictive.
Given that short term interest rates are near zero and expected to remain there for some time, have you given any thought to using a portion of your cash on hand and a draw against your HELOC to pay off the rental property mortgage? I realize you just closed on that property but it’s a sunk cost at this point. You should also look in to a no cost refinance of your primary residence mortgage because you could probably reduce your interest rate and monthly payment (so that you can replenish your cash on hand and/or pay off the HELOC draw).
I am seriously thinking about paying off the rental mortgage soon.